Star Trek Review

Once upon a time I did reviews for a living. It was music and book reviews but I haven’t had stretched those review muscles in a long time so I will review the new Star Trek movie.

I am not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination. Mostly because I can’t stand William Shatner, the man just gets on my last nerve. Uhura was my girl and Scotty was also a fave of mine probably because he was always beaming people up. After watching Star Trek, I love both characters even more. Leonard Nimoy is the only original cast member to make an appearance. And while I liked him on Star Trek, he will always be the host of “In Search Of…” to me.

Captain Pike has a stronger presence in this film as well. I barely remember him from the original series but the great thing is you don’t have to know anything about the original series to enjoy this movie. Sorry hardcore Trekkies no one speaks Klingon in this movie. In fact, they are mentioned once or twice but the major foes are the Romuluns. Most specifically, a crazed Romulun named Nero who is intent on destroying Spock. I don’t want to give too much of the movie away but it is definitely worth checking out.

One of my favorite part was the romance between Spock and Uhura. One scene that cracked me up was when Spock and James Kirk (he wasn’t the Captain yet, Spock was) were going to go down to the Romulun ship to get the drill and the red matter that had the ability not only to destroy planets but turn them into a black hole. So they are on the launch pad waiting to be beamed down when Uhura kisses Spock good-bye. Jim looks at the two uncomfortably and then Spocks says, “Good-bye Nearda.” and Jim had been trying to get her first name forever. So as she walks away he goes, “So her first name is Nearda?” and while I can’t remember the actual line, it is along the lines of “That would be classified.”

The U.S.S Enterprise (like the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars) is the real star as far as I am concerned. It is a given that the ship will be asked to pull off some pretty fancy manuevers and sustain some pretty heavy damage but yet it is expected to “walk away from it” There is something heroic in and of itself in the Enterprise. When we first meet the Enterprise she is a brand new ship, ready to go on a humanitarian effort to Vulcan. Not knowing it is a trap by the Romuluns to capture Spock. So the ship is out there bopping around, thinking “This is cool, I’m the U.S.S. Enterprise.” Then it is all shields and photon torpedos in a matter of seconds. Of course, she gets battered but is able to continue her mission. Though I am kind of weird anyway, when watching a western and a guy gets shot while on his horse, I am more worried about the horse. When I am a watching a chase scene and the car tumbles over consecutive times I cringe, not for the driver but for the car. See told you-I’m weird.

All in all, I found the movie very entertaining and the new James T. Kirk much more hot and less annoying then the original by William Shatner. In fact, I only went with the assurance I would not have to see William Shatner at any point during this film. It is an excellent film with an very intelligent and thought provoking story, I would definitely recommend everyone go out and see Star Trek even if you are not a Trekkie, like me.

7 comments on “Star Trek Review”

Ah…considering I don’t know much about Star Trek, I wasn’t aware it did depart from it and I guess that is why I liked it so much because it was like watching a brand new film with characters I didn’t really know. So I was able to enjoy just on its own merits and not how it related to Star Trek. I love that part where the Old Spock (Nimoy) is talking to the young Spock and he is about to leave and he says, “Given that my customary good bye would be a little self-serving, I will simply say Good luck.” It was one of the few inside things I got.

Thank you for clarifying her name. Since Spock was a meanie and wouldn’t repeat it, I couldn’t catch it. LOL What I liked most about the movie is that I saw it with LDS people and I didn’t feel like, “Oh great, I saw Star Trek now I am going to have to go repent to my Bishop for watching this.” There was not a lot of cursing or graphic sex scenes. There was that one with the green woman and Kirk but even that was relatively tame overall. I think those things alone made it much more enjoyable since I wasn’t going, “Geez, does every other word have to be a curse word out of your mouth?” For me, it makes it easier to get into the story when I am not trying to filter out the language.

Not a big trekie but I watched it. I was amazed at how they stayed close to the characters original nationalities and personalities. Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Uhuru, Sulu, Kirk, Spock and Chekov. They could have taken liberties but did not.

Unfortunately I watched it with someone who did not know anything about Star Trek, except the term “Beam me up Scotty” which was never said, so I spent time explaining things to them. Too bad she is my girlfriend or I would have left.

LOL, Ron sounds like you need a new girlfriend. Actually, I knew just enough of the story of Star Trek that I could follow it pretty well. I told one person that it didn’t have the Kilngons in it and they were utterly dismayed.

And you are welcome Clifton, I tried not to give too much away, I hate when people do that. Definitely go out and see it when you can.

And I agree Ron the personalities were very close to the original characters. I liked that they gave Uhura more of a personality then she had on the series. I saw the last name Nichols in the credits and it wasn’t Nichelle but I wondered if it was like her daughter or some other relation to her. Not only did they stay true to the characters but some of them looked like they just walked off the 1960’s set, they looked so much like the original. Especially Spock and Dr. McCoy. They wouldn’t pass for twins necessarily but they did look eerily similar.